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Whole number Place Value 1 –

Cubes, Sticks and Slabs

Teaching Mathematics Visually and Actively

Tandi Clausen-May

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Click the mouse only when you see a

Otherwise you will miss the animations!

Click the mouse now!

3110

Start with

a 1-cube.

Ten 1-cubes make a 10-stick.

410100

1

Ten 10-sticks make a 100-slab.

51000

Ten 100-slabs make a

1000-cube.

100

1

10

61000

1

10

100

So there are a thousand 1-cubes in the 1000-cube!

Ten 100-slabs make a

1000-cube.

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Watch how it builds up.

If one is just this big…

…and how big is a million?

...then a thousand is this big…

1 10

100

1,000

100,000

10,000

1,000,000

× 10

× 10

× 10× 10

× 10

× 10

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….but a million won’t fit on the screen!

One was just this big….

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…a thousand-cube.

1-cube

× 10

× 10

× 10

First the one-cube builds up to ….1000-cube

10-stick

100-slab

10

1,000

1,0001,000

1,0001,0001,000 × 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

1,000,000

100,000

10,000

Then the thousand-cube builds up to……a million-cube.

Imagine the thousand-

cube moving away, so it looks smaller and smaller….

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Then the million–cube builds up to……a thousand million-cube.

1,000,000

1,000,0001,000,000

1,000,0001,000,0001,000,000 × 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

1,000,000,000

100,000,000

10,000,000

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1,000,000,000

1,000,000,0001,000,000,000

1,000,000,0001,000,000,0001,000,000,000,0001,000,000,000 × 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

× 10

100,000,000,000

10,000,000,000

…a million million-cube!Then the thousand million-cube builds up to …

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× 10

× 10

× 10× 10

× 10

And so on…

…from cube… …to stick…

…to slab…

…to cube…

× 10

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× 10

× 10

× 10× 10

× 10

× 10

…to stick…

…to slab…

…to cube…

× 10

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Will it ever stop?

…to stick…

…to slab…

…to cube…

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The cycle goes on to infinity!

…to stick…

…to slab…

…to cube…

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Find it at http://www.uk.sagepub.com

Tandi Clausen-May

Now watch PP 4-2: Whole number Place

Value 2 – Modelling Numbersfrom the CD inside

Teaching Mathematics Visually and Actively